Our historic dock is a popular attraction for visitors
PORTSMOUTH Historic Dockyard is one of the tourist attractions which is hoping to be able to reopen safely later in the year.
In 2017 there were 850,000 visitors, bringing in £110.4m to the city.
However, the shutdown for most of
2020 meant that it is struggling to balance the books. While it has already had government help, it says it needs more.
A statement issued by the dockyard says: ‘As joint operators of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the National Museum of the Royal Navy NMRN) and the Mary Rose Trust (MRT) have both been clear about the devastating impact the loss of admissions has had on their financial position.
‘NMRN received emergency funding from the Treasury to help fill its £6m funding gap. The MRT mounted a high-profile fundraising appeal, in order to cover core costs for conserving and caring for the ship and collection of £2.2m and received support from the Culture Recovery Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
‘However, the ongoing crisis and further lockdowns mean we are both looking for additional support this year and are working with government departments and funders to achieve this. We will continue to demonstrate the economic and social value that the internationally important ships and collections in our care offer to Portsmouth, Hampshire, and the UK.
‘Whilst the support we have both received to date has been hugely welcome, the impact is far-reaching, and we will both require further additional funding to make up for the shortfalls we have experienced.
‘We are currently awaiting government guidance regarding reopening, but we very much hope to welcome back our visitors later this year. When we reopened last summer, we were able to implement a range of Covid safe measures, which were welcomed by our visitors, staff, and volunteers, and review them regularly. We have continued to develop our offer despite site closures, and we will be launching several new features this year.
‘These exciting additions will provide new opportunities to explore the stories of both HMS Victory and the Mary Rose encouraging old and new visitors alike. Further details will be announced in due course.
‘In August last year, we announced our joint working relationship and new ticket offer, a response to the challenging conditions in which we were operating. For the period of 2020, we were able to open, we saw the positive effect this had on improving the experience of our visitors and the value for money we were able to offer.
‘We are also working closely with partners across Portsmouth and the team at Visit Portsmouth and Visit Hampshire to maximise our exposure to visitors planning day trips and UK holidays across Hampshire and the surrounding areas throughout the summer and into the autumn.
‘It has been an incredibly challenging year for all, but if when we are able to open our doors again we believe working together and with the wider Portsmouth and Gosport community, we can be optimistic about a busy and positive summer season.’